The *Official* MSI K8NGM2-FID GeForce 6150 Motherboard Thread

[knightc2]

New BIOS available here, version 3.6, it says that it now supports the ALC883 chip with the new BIOS. This seems kind of strange because I was under the impression that all of these boards came with the ALC880.

In the zip file is a text document which lists 3 things that were updated in this BIOS but they are written in chinese, I'd appreciate it if somebody could translate it.

The last three lines are just the Chinese version of the first three.

K8NGM2-FID (MS-7207) V3.6 BIOS Release
-----------------------------------------

1. This is AMI BIOS release
2. This BIOS fixes the following problem of the previous version:
- Support Realtek ALC883 audio chip.
3. 2006/09/06

[Below information is Chinese language]

A. AMI BIOS ¥¿¦¡µo¦æ
B. ¦¹ª©¥»­×¥¿¤U¦C°ÝÃD:
- ¤ä´© Realtek ALC883 ­µ®Ä´¹¤ù.
C. §ó·s¤é´Á: ¤½¤¸2006¦~09¤ë06¸¹

 

[Korin]

Well, I have the same motherboard. But my question is valid for all 6100/6150 users. By using a external PCI-E card such as 7600 GT and onboard video at the same time, is it possible to setup a triple monitor display?

 

[renethx]

Yes, the triple display is possible with either two onboard video outs + one video out from an external graphics or one onboard video out + two video outs from an external graphics.

 

[renethx]

knightc2, what encoding did you use? Chinese text in your post is unreadable in any character encoding. The original text is Big5. I copied and pasted it to "Quick Reply" and it is displayed correctly in UTF-8 (the default character encoding of AnandTech Forums).

K8NGM2-FID (MS-7207) V3.6 BIOS Release
-----------------------------------------

1. This is AMI BIOS release

2. This BIOS fixes the following problem of the previous version:
- Support Realtek ALC883 audio chip.

3. 2006/09/06

[Below information is Chinese language]

A. AMI BIOS ????

B. ?????????:
- ?? Realtek ALC883 ????.

C. ????: ??2006?09?06?

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: renethx
knightc2, what encoding did you use? Chinese text in your post is unreadable in any character encoding. The original text is Big5. I copied and pasted it to "Quick Reply" and it is displayed correctly in UTF-8 (the default character encoding of AnandTech Forums).

K8NGM2-FID (MS-7207) V3.6 BIOS Release
-----------------------------------------

1. This is AMI BIOS release

2. This BIOS fixes the following problem of the previous version:
- Support Realtek ALC883 audio chip.

3. 2006/09/06

[Below information is Chinese language]

A. AMI BIOS ????

B. ?????????:
- ?? Realtek ALC883 ????.

C. ????: ??2006?09?06?

So renethx, do you know why they would add support for an audio chip which is not on the board?

 

[knightc2]

Originally posted by: renethx
knightc2, what encoding did you use? Chinese text in your post is unreadable in any character encoding. The original text is Big5. I copied and pasted it to "Quick Reply" and it is displayed correctly in UTF-8 (the default character encoding of AnandTech Forums).

K8NGM2-FID (MS-7207) V3.6 BIOS Release
-----------------------------------------

1. This is AMI BIOS release

2. This BIOS fixes the following problem of the previous version:
- Support Realtek ALC883 audio chip.

3. 2006/09/06

[Below information is Chinese language]

A. AMI BIOS ????

B. ?????????:
- ?? Realtek ALC883 ????.

C. ????: ??2006?09?06?

I just copied and pasted it from the text file and this what it threw out. The characters in the text file looked the same. I knew it didn't look right but even with the odd ball characters you can tell that it is really just a repeat of the first 3 lines in English. Not sure why it did it that way. Using the default Western encoding. I did open the text file in FireFox and it appeared the same way until I selected Big5. After selecting Big5 encoding it appeared as it should have.

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: avi85
So renethx, do you know why they would add support for an audio chip which is not on the board?

No, I have no information on this point.

 

[Megatomic]

Well, if that's all the new BIOS code does then there really is no need to update from 3.5 is there?

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Well, if that's all the new BIOS code does then there really is no need to update from 3.5 is there?

There doesn't seem to be...

 

[knightc2]

Got my board yesterday. It is the correct FID version and has all the brackets. Took 10 or 11 days to get it, but I am glad that it actually arrived. Thanks to BernardP for the NCIX.com tip.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: knightc2
Got my board yesterday. It is the correct FID version and has all the brackets. Took 10 or 11 days to get it, but I am glad that it actually arrived. Thanks to BernardP for the NCIX.com tip.

congrats!

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: knightc2
Got my board yesterday. It is the correct FID version and has all the brackets. Took 10 or 11 days to get it, but I am glad that it actually arrived. Thanks to BernardP for the NCIX.com tip.

And thanks for reporting that it worked out for you.

 

[blimey]

I know that the K9NBPM2-FID (Newegg) is a business platform model, but I don't know if the Quadro NVS 210S northbridge can handle HDTV. Is the NVS 210S less, more, or the same as the 6150?

 

[renethx]

1 TV-out header is onboard. That means NVS 210S can handle HDTV. But perhaps you have to buy an optional TV-out bracket (like this one). There is not enough information even at NVIDIA site, but I guess NVS 210S is more less the same as GeForce 6150.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: renethx

Originally posted by: avi85
So renethx, do you know why they would add support for an audio chip which is not on the board?

No, I have no information on this point.

I finally received a response from MSI today, here it is:

Hi,

We have changed the audio chip on the new batch of the motherboard. They share the same BIOS but your old motherboard only support ALC880 audio chip.

Best regards,
MSI Technical Support

I guess this means that they haven't discontinued the board...

 

[bobokiki]

Has anyone figured out how to get SPDIF Optical out of this board? All the brackets I found have a +5V wire which the SPDIF header on the MB doesn't supply.

I guess I could always connect a separate wire from another (unused) +5V pin on the MB? Could I take it from the floppy connector (red wire is +5V)? renethx mentioned a fuse -- is this necessary?

Thanks!

 

[Artanis]

So, what is the latest/best BIOS for this MB ? I saw in the avi85's signature the 3.71 version ?

Thank you !

 

[renethx]

Many attempted to get optical out from the board using +5V line but nobody has succeeded. Search for the term "optical" in the thread. You'd better use a coaxial to optical converter like this.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: Artanis
So, what is the latest/best BIOS for this MB ? I saw in the avi85's signature the 3.71 version ?

Thank you !

3.5 is the most common and seems to get the job done.

3.6 adds support for the realtek ALC883 audio chip which apparently MSI is using on some new batch of boards, so it's irrelevant if you have the ALC880.

3.71 is newer but to be honest, I have no Idea what the difference is, but I have no problems with it, so I saw no reason to go back to 3.5...

 

[renethx]

The beta BIOS v3.71 is available at AVS Forum. Please download it if you are interested. The file was provided by avi85. Thanks!

 

[Artanis]

I flashed the official 3.6 version, so far so good, but I noticed no differences from the 3.5.

 

[bobokiki]

Originally posted by: renethx
Many attempted to get optical out from the board using +5V line but nobody has succeeded. Search for the term "optical" in the thread. You'd better use a coaxial to optical converter like this.

Thanks for the info. While searching this thread, I noticed someone apparently got optical working. Too bad it's too complex for me to assemble:

--------
Date Posted: 03/18/2006 12:24 PM Posted By: timotl(Junior Member)

No matter what supply voltage these modules are expecting, I'm fairly certain they are expecting a TTL level input not coax.

I managed to get the Asus bracket working for both coax and toslink.
The Asus bracket is expecting a TTL signal to run the toslink transmitter and it converts it down for the coax out.

I used the Coax -> TTL circuit on this page with a couple changes:
http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/mind/spdif/

I omitted the 75 ohm resistor and added a .1uf capacator across the power pins of the inverter to stabilize it's power supply.

I also doubled up the second stage to handle powering the toslink module better.
Connect pin 3 to pin 5 and connect pin 4 to pin 6.

Picure of completed module:
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7829/dsc061566ro.jpg

Hope it helps someone.

-timotl
------------------------------

 

[buurin]

Greetings.

I have run a such a system as my HTPC for the better part of this year. First here is my config:

K8NGM2-FID 3.40 BIOS
AOpen H340D (then H360A) slim case
Athlon 64 3700+
Silverstone NT03 CPU cooler
2x512MB KingMax DDR400
FusionHDTV5 Gold+ w/ LP bracket
Seagate ST3300622AS 300GB SATA2
LG 4040/4163/4160 (currently 4160) DVD burner
Windows 2000 Server (I refuse to use XP)

I have another hard drive loaded with Fedora Core 5 for testing.

I have a working hand-built SPDIF coax->optical converter, similar to previously mentioned stuff, hanging off my receiver. Store-bought converters are all way overpriced. Anyone able to should build their own.
I have to get rid of the stock cooler anyway because its bottom frame is too thick for H340 and warps the mobo. NT03 fits without a problem.

It is not as stable as I liked. It sometimes freeze after playing HDTV content for 2 hours; I can sometimes connect via terminal service and recover, but not always. The NB heatsink is hot to the touch. The booting with SATA2 hard drive problem still lingers - I definitely need "quick boot" turned off to make it boot on first try, but for now I didn't jumper it for SATA1. I RMAed the board once because of this problem. Graned I used a Maxtor 6V250F0 during that time. Overclocking doesn't net me any gains so now I'm instead undervolting it to 1.3V using CnQ, set using Rightmark. Not to mention I never was able to record anything off the SPDIF in.

And ever since I installed Forceware 91.47 HDTV decoding performance has gone to hell. I have to instruct MPC to use Fusion's bundled codec instead of PureVideo, otherwise it stutters to no end. What can I do about this one?

I thought its crashing is either the NB overheating or the power supply not supplying enough +12V. The stock H340 supply can do 10A, one in H360 does 12A, I have an Enhance 2224B-2 on order that can do 16A - H340 supply is almost a TFX12V with a 3x10mm block carved off one edge - I can try to mod this unit to fit. H360 uses an enlarged version that isn't of any standard, so that means once the Enhance came, I'm going back to using H340.

My main question is on cooling the NB. The heatsinks are inadequate. I bought a thicker replacement on Digikey for $3.5CDN that almost took care of the SB - still hot, but finding a heatsink for NB is a b*tch. TT Extreme Spirit 1 doesn't fit, not even its blower fan alone on the stock sink. My question is: can the newer Extreme Spirit 2 be made to fit? Its heat pipe and side blowing fan seems promising and is perfect companion to the NT03 - I can rearrange its two fans to have them blow on the NB heatsink, because the CPU is almost always cooler than the case as PC Alert and Speedfan tells me.

 

[buurin]

And I forgot to say that as I hooked its component TV out to a Panasonic RPTV in 1080i it's overscanning pretty badly. Then again the Panny itself is also overscanning...

 

[Kid Vicious]

Gotta question. So I missed the mad grab for cheap sckt 939 x2 3800's, now demand has jacked the price back up close to 200usd.

The question is, should I shell out the cash for the performance of an x2 3800 or should I pickup a cheap a64 3200 Venice for 69usd from ZZF? Or should I wait for the price drops after xmas.

The plan is to setup an HTPC/Storage compy with MCE2k5 (duh). I got the board ordered but I not going to to receive it 'till around Nov. 8. Thanks for the help.